Careful Who You Eat With

In Bodley's book, he states that over-consumption of food is a "dimension of the culture of consumption, and it is a form of malnutrition..."(148). Next time you go out to eat with a group of friends and/or family, keep track of your consumption. According to Brian Wansink from the University of Illinois, the atmosphere and the environment of where you eat can influence how much you eat, and how long you eat for. For example, dimmed or soft lighting can lengthen a party's stay at a restaurant. In addition, the presence of other people can influence the amount of food you eat. A research done in 1992 showed that meal size increased as the number of people present increased.

Every time I go out to eat with my family, I get shoved with food by my parents and their friends. Since my parents prefer not to take home any leftovers, they rely on me to finish the rest of the food; I guess that's why they refer to me as the vacuum cleaner.